Chaos In Rivendell
by Lorwen
Summary: Elflings and Children are all alike...


Disclamer: Aren't mine, never will be *sniff*  
  
A/N: This was actually written as a response to a fic-challenge. I enjoyed it sooo much and wrote this, quite long fic for it. I liked how it turned out, so I decided to post in on FF.net too. So here it goes! Enjoy!!!  
  
Chaos in Rivendell  
  
"Ada I want a pet" the young Estel asked pulling his stepfathers sleeve.  
  
"What?" Elrond asked distracted from his papers that lay in front of him, looking up he could see Glorfindel and Erestor looking at him laughingly.  
  
"I want a pet!" Estel said again, more pressingly this time, tugging on his sleeve once more.  
  
"You already have pets Estel, no more" Elrond said as he looked at the youngster at his side, "We are discussing important things here son, we will speak about this later!"  
  
"But Ada" Estel started whining.  
  
"No but's! And don't pull that whining face, I will not be persuaded by it any longer! As I said we will speak later!" Looking back up towards his compagnions he could clearly see the mirth in their eyes.  
  
"Not fair, I never get anything around here" Estel muttered as he walked back to the door dragging his feet in the mean time.  
  
"Close the door when you leave!" Elrond called after his youngest.  
  
With a loud bang Estel threw the door in it's lock startling all three elves in the room.  
  
"I'm sorry my friends" Elrond excused for the interruption.  
  
"Think nothing of it" Glorfindel said mirth still coloring his voice. "Little ones are all the same, elflings and children alike."  
  
Returning back to their business the event was soon forgotten by all, except for little Estel himself. Later at dinner he asked it again.  
  
"Ada I still want a pet".  
  
"Estel" the elf lord sighed. "You already have several cats running around here. You already have a dog, and a horse. We have a birdhouse full of birds in different colours, we have a pond with all sorts of fish, you even have several goldfish on your room! You wanted all these animals, but who gets to care for them? I do!"  
  
"But this time I will take care of it! Really Ada! I promise!" the little boy objected.  
  
"That's what you said every time before!" Elrond answered as he continued to cut the meat on his plate.  
  
"But this time I promise!" Estel pleaded, "Please Ada?"  
  
Elrond sighed and placed his fork and knife down, he found it hard to refuse his youngest anything, but he had already asked for so many animals, and every time he had to take care of them after a few days.  
  
Elladan and Elrohir had asked for animals too, and he had to take care of them as well, frankly he had had enough. But luckily when they grew, they stopped asking for them as one after the other died even though they got the best care.  
  
"No Estel" he sighed, "no more pets! And that's final!" He watched as his foster son started sulking but neither one uttered one more word on the subject.  
  
Several days later Elrond noticed that Estel hardly even thought about having another pet. He did see that he put some of his food in his pockets, but he had done that before to feed the birds in the garden so Elrond didn't think anything off it.  
  
One day Elrond was relaxing in his private bathtub when suddenly Estel rushed in, clearly surprised to see Ada in the tub.  
  
"What do you want son?" Elrond asked eyeing the youngster without moving from his current position.  
  
"I.. er.. I was just.. er. I didn't think you were going to be here" he finally managed to utter.  
  
"It's my bathtub, and I felt like taking a bath" Elrond replied. "What are you looking for?" he asked as he could see Estel looking around anxiously as if he lost something.  
  
"Err. nothing" he replied and headed for the door again, "Later Ada!" he said and left without closing the door.  
  
"Estel! The door!" Elrond hollered after him.  
  
Estel came back and closed the door, a little more silent than last time, but still it slammed shut. At the same moment that the door fell shut something fell into the water with a slight splash.  
  
Elrond looked up to see what could have fallen, but there was nothing on the shelves above that could have made such a noise. Frowning he looked at the place where it had fallen.  
  
"Curious" he said moving closer to see underneath all the foam.  
  
Suddenly he jerked back, making big waves of water that splashed over the top onto the floor and stared in awe at what had fallen into the tub.  
  
"Ai Valar!" he yelled as he scooted the thing from the tub with his washcloth. "A rat!" With a thud the rodent flew on the bathroom floor and still dripping wet it ran off disappearing from sight through the door into his bedroom.  
  
Jumping out of the tub in pursuit Elrond quickly pulled on his dressing gown and went after it only to loose track of it when arriving in the bedroom as he noticed that his door stood open and the rodent could have gotten anywhere by now.  
  
Growling he returned to his bath, looking at it as if it was filled with rodents instead of the water and foam. He quickly decided he wasn't going to enjoy it any longer and pulled the plug so the water could run down to the creek.  
  
Drying himself off he decided he would have to prepare a chase for the creature as he knew that they bread quickly and they could spread diseases easily. Although it had been washed only a few moments ago. But he had to be careful, Estel might be scared if he knew that there was a rat running around the house.  
  
"But first I'll have to clean this mess up" he said to himself as he threw some towels on the puddle on the bathroom floor.  
  
At night, when he had made sure that Estel was sleeping solidly, he started to prepare himself. He was going to set up his trap in the kitchen, as he knew that rodents mostly stayed in places where there was plenty of food lying around.  
  
Elrond placed a piece of cheese on the floor of the kitchen and sat down behind the counter. It proved to be a long wait and an uneventful one, still it made him feel like he was young again. He and his brother used to set traps all over the place when they were kids, trapping all kinds of animals, but releasing them all. He wouldn't release this one if he caught it.  
  
Finally the rodent appeared and started sniffeling at the cheese. Elrond quickly pulled on the string and the trap fell shut.  
  
"Aha! Gotcha!" He yelled jumping up. But as soon as he walked towards the makeshift trap he made, a candle was lit in the kitchen and the chef moved towards him.  
  
"My Lord?" he asked as he saw Elrond standing near a piece of cloth that had been tied to a wooden frame. Elrond was still holding the piece of string that was tied to a stick that had kept the device up.  
  
"A rat!" Elrond said, almost feeling proud that he had captured it, "I got it!" he said pointing to the floor.  
  
"A rat? In my kitchen?" the poor chef panicked wringing his hands together nerveously.  
  
"Don't worry about it my dear chef" Elrond almost gloated, "I've captured it!" he said and pointed to the trap.  
  
When they both looked down, it was obvious that the trap hadn't quite done his work like Elrond had expected. The piece of cheese had gone, and so had the rat.  
  
"I was so certain that I had it!" Elrond muttered picking up the trap that he had constructed. "Now where did it go?"  
  
"I'll tell my crew" the chef said, "We have make sure that it doesn't reach our food!"  
  
"Good idea" Elrond said, "but don't tell Estel, he might not understand why we have to capture this rodent".  
  
The chef nodded and returned to his bed, as did Elrond. Putting the trap he constructed on the desk near his bed he got in sighing deeply. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.  
  
The next morning Elrond woke up by something that was tickling him ever so slightly. Blinking with his eyes to see clearer he got the surprise of a lifetime when he saw the rat sniffeling around on his stomach.  
  
"Ai Valar!" he shouted again and threw of the covers hoping to trap the creature thus. He then started hitting the covers with one of his boots.  
  
Wondering what all this commotion coming from Elrond's room was, Glorfindel decided to take a look and saw the elf lord bashing his boot over and over again on his bed. Frowning at what he saw Glorfindel entered the room and closed the door after him.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked suddenly, startling the older elf.  
  
"I." Elrond began, dropping his boot to the ground and turning to meet his friend. "There was a rat on my bed, I was trying to kill it" he admitted.  
  
"A rat? Here? Impossible, Estel's cats would have gotten him days ago then!" Glorfindel said as he approached the bed with caution. "Mind if I?" he asked Elrond pointing towards the bed.  
  
"Sure go ahead! But I think I've got him, so it might look rather ugly"  
  
Glorfindel carefully lifted the sheets and peeked underneath it, then started laughing like a mad elf.  
  
"Yes you did get "it"" he said trying to control his laughter. Reaching forward to get it Elrond warned him not to.  
  
"You never know if it's still alive, it might bite you!" he said.  
  
"I think I'm pretty safe from that" Glorfindel laughed again as he picked up the creature that Elrond had bashed on. As he showed it to the Elf lord, he only gazed at it not knowing what to think.  
  
"It's one of Estel's toys!" Glorfindel spat out laughing so hard he hardly could speak at all.  
  
"What." Elrond uttered stepping forward and taking the stuffed animal from the laughing elf. It was indeed one of Estel's toys, and it didn't even resemble a rat. "I was pretty sure I saw a rat!" Elrond objected and threw the toy back on his bed.  
  
"I did see a rat Glorfindel!" he said rather loud, trying to bring the elf back to his positives. "It fell in my bathtub when I was in it, and I nearly caught it last night in the kitchen!"  
  
"Really?" Glorfindel asked calming himself down a little.  
  
"Really! It's a grey rat! We can't just let it run around here! We have to catch it!" Elrond said desperately trying to make Glorfindel stop laughing.  
  
"Alright, I hear you mean it" he said still snickering at the image in his head of Elrond bashing on the bed. Glancing around the room he noticed the trap Elrond had thrown on his desk. "You tried to capture it with this?" Glorfindel asked holding it up.  
  
"Yes, something wrong with that?" Elrond said undignified.  
  
"Not if the rodent had wings!" Glorfindel said as laughing spilled over again. "This is a trap for birds! You can't capture rats with this! They wriggle their way out from underneath it!"  
  
"I take it you know how to capture rats then?" Elrond asked a little irritated that his friend was laughing at him.  
  
"I have a few idea's" Glorfindel said as he contained his laughter again.  
  
"I don't want to tell the boys" Elrond said. "Estel might get frightened if he knows there is a rat running around here".  
  
"Alright, when do we begin?" Glorfindel asked.  
  
"We can begin now if you want" Elrond said, "only don't tell Estel".  
  
Together they started to plan on how they would best capture the rat. Over the next couple of days both Glorfindel and Elrond tried to catch the rodent that seemed extremely elusive, using all possible means to do so. But each time the little critter managed to escape.  
  
They had tried capturing it with a box, much like Elrond had first attempted with his makeshift-bird-catcher, but it only resulted in failure as the box fell on it's side in stead.  
  
They had tried to throw a heavy bag over it, but it still had escaped easily from underneath it leaving Glorfindel to chase it down the hallway, nearly colliding with the statue that stood at the bottom of the stairs, and finally loosing it again in the kitchen.  
  
They had tried to capture it in a basket-like device that the chef of the kitchen had suggested. It was a strange looking thing, looked like a closed basket with only a small entrance.  
  
"When the rat smells the cheese inside, he'll wriggle to get in it, but the entrance is somewhat smaller than the rat, so there is no way back" he had explained. "The good part is, you can leave it laying around, you don't have to watch it all night long."  
  
So they placed it in the kitchen and then went to bed, hoping that the rat would be init the next morning. But alas, the device was empty in the morning, and the cheese was gone.  
  
"I can't believe how he pulled that off" the chef asked himself scratching his head.  
  
"I've had it with that beast!" Elrond said in anger.  
  
"We've tried everything!" Glorfindel said sighing and sitting down. Silence fell in the large kitchen, as it was still to early for the other servants to start their work.  
  
"The only thing we can still do" Glorfindel said after some time, "is letting Estel's cats inside the house and let them catch it"  
  
"Getting rid of a animal by letting more animals in?" Elrond asked, but he knew that his friend was right. The cats might have more luck in catching it than they had had.  
  
"It's all that's left except poison and you said it yourself that that was out of the question" Glorfindel sighed. "If they still want to come in after last time we chased them out" Elrond sighed as well and sat down next to Glorfindel in defeat.  
  
Several days later, after getting used to those blasted cats roaming the house, much to Estel's delight, the entire family sat at the dinner table. Glorfindel had reported that he had still seen the rat running around even with the cats nearby! It seemed that the cats detested the rat, or were scared of it, so they walked around it.  
  
A chatter filled the room and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves until . Elrond suddenly saw the rat on the other side of the room sniffeling against the wall. Without even thinking twice he threw his knife, he held in his hand to cut his meat, at the creature pinning it against the wall with a clearly audible squeak.  
  
The room was immediately quiet as everybody looking back and forth between the wall and Elrond.  
  
"Finally I've got it" Elrond said full triomf and watched as his youngest pushed his chair back and ran towards it.  
  
"Estel, be carefull! It might still bite!" he called after him and rose to walk after him.  
  
He frowned as he saw Estel kneel next to it, removed the knife and held it in his hands. When he stood next to him, he could see that he was crying.  
  
"Estel?" Elrond asked surprised, could it be that he was that sensitive to an animal? Even a filthy rodent like this?  
  
"Murderer! You killed it!" he cried out holding the rodent close to his chest. Elrond was baffeled, he surely hadn't expected Estel to react in that manner.  
  
"I'm sorry pen neth" Elrond said comfortingly as he knelt next to him. "It was a rat, I couldn't allow it to roam free through our house"  
  
"It wasn't a rat!" Estel cried petting the fur of the still creature. "It was a hamster from Rohan! It was my pet! And you killed it!"  
  
"An hamster from Rohan?" Elrond asked baffled looking towards Glorfindel for confirmation that such a creature didn't exist. "Estel listen to me, there are no hamsters in Rohan, only rats! And what do you mean it was your pet?"  
  
"You lie! There are hamsters in Rohan! The Merchant told me, he showed me others just like him!" Estel really was crying now.  
  
"Estel" Elrond said softly turning the boys face towards him. "Listen to me, there are no hamsters in Rohan, truly. I'm telling you the truth! Glorfindel, say something!" he asked his friend pleadingly.  
  
"He's right little one, there are no hamsters in Rohan. It is a rat!" he said quickly for he had been startled by Elronds demand.  
  
"I had a rat as pet?" Estel asked still sobbing, stopping to caress the little body of the rodent and looking at it.  
  
"Yes Estel" Elrond said. "If it was your pet, what was it doing running around the house?" he asked then a little more stern.  
  
"It escaped, and I lost it, I left it in your bathroom for I wanted to bathe it, but then I left only a few minutes and when I came back you were in the tub and Hammie was gone."  
  
"Hammie?" Elrohir asked stepping closer.  
  
"I named it Hammie" the boy sobbed. "I took care of it, I only couldn't catch it anymore, so I let it run free. It did no harm ada, really! And I gave it food! I didn't neglect it, really!"  
  
"So that's where your food from your plate went, to the rat!" Elrond said remembering that he had seen Estel putting some food in his pockets a few days ago.  
  
What Estel had just said stunned all elves in the room, Estel had bought a rat believing it to be a Hamster from Rohan, it escaped and he let it run around freely.  
  
"I believed I told you no more pets Estel" Elrond said getting up and looking down at the boy.  
  
"I'm sorry Ada" he said hanging his head. "I had hoped I could have taken care for it for a while before I told you, so you could see that I could take care of a pet, I had hoped you'd be proud of me."  
  
"It escaped Estel!" Elrond said raising his voice. "I'm sorry that I had to kill it" he continued then a little softer grasping the boy's shoulder. "You do understand why don't you?"  
  
"Because I lied to you and kept a pet anyway?" tear filled eyes looked up at him.  
  
"No Estel, because it is a rodent, and rodents tend to eat everything they can find. Plus they spread diseases, destroy our food and many other bad things."  
  
"But I was going to bathe it, so it wouldn't spread diseases anymore. I was giving it my food."  
  
"Rats aren't pets Estel" Elrond sighed, "If we had visitors and they would see a rat running around in our house, they wouldn't want to stay any longer. Besides, one rat would lure other rodents into the house, and before you know it there would have been hundreds of them!"  
  
"We better burry it" Glorfindel said picking up one of the napkins from the ground and putting the rodent in it.  
  
"Can't we to stuff it like the Merchant did?" Estel asked looking at Elrond hopefully, "that way I can still pet it and I still have a pet I can care for! And it wouldn't be a nuisance to anybody!"  
  
"No Estel, we are not going to stuff a rat!" Elrond said shocked walking back to his chair.  
  
"Can I at least mount it on my wall? I've seen the room from the mayor of town, he has all kinds of animals looking over him, I want that to!" the boy kept asking, walking after his father.  
  
"No Estel" Elrond sighed, shruddering at the idea of a dead animal head hanging from the wall in his youngest's bedroom, even more at the idea of the head of a dead rat on his bedroom wall.  
  
"Can I at least give it a proper burial then?" Estel sighed taking the napkin with the rat in it from Glorfindel who seemed eager enough to get rid of the package.  
  
"Alright, we'll give it a proper burial" Elrond admitted, it seemed like the most do-able thing he proposed.  
  
Estel dragged him outside immediately by pulling on his sleeve, not hearing the protests about the fact that it was getting dark already.  
  
"Now?" Erestor asked, clearly not taken in by the youngest member of the family idea.  
  
"We still have time!" Estel said, "It's not dark yet! You must also come Elladan, Elrohir, Erestor and Glorfindel!"  
  
Sighing deeply they all rose from their chairs and followed Estel and Elrond outside.  
  
"I'll go get a shovel" Estel said, suddenly eager to burry his pet, or so it seemed.  
  
When Estel had decided on the right spot, Elladan had made a hole in the ground deep and big enough for the package to fit in it.  
  
Estel stepped forward and placed the package in the hole.  
  
"Goodby my friend" he whispered as he laid it down. "To me you'll always be the Hamster from Rohan named Hammie." As he had said that he stepped backwards and tugged on Elrond's sleeve. "Now you say something!" he demanded.  
  
Elrond quickly uttered some goodbye words and stepped back.  
  
"Now you say something" Estel demanded of his brothers and then of Erestor who rolled his eyes and Glorfindel who merely sighed.  
  
Saying something quickly they all stepped back as soon as they had, looking at Glorfindel he was the last to say something. Stepping forward he quickly thought of what to say.  
  
"Goodbye rat, may there be much cheese where you go" he said and stepped back again.  
  
Elladan closed up the hole and they all walked back into the house.  
  
"I can't believe we actually held a funeral for a rat!" Elrond whispered to Erestor when they got back inside. "Luckily nobody saw us!"  
  
"I advice that it would be best if it stayed amongst us" Erestor whispered back at the elf lord.  
  
"I think that will be best" Elrond said shaking his head. 


End file.
